View full sizeAP PhotoGrit is all that's left: Michigan State's Russell Byrd, left, here battling for a loose ball with Minnesota's Andre Hollins and teammate Draymond Green, said the only way he can help this year's team is being a tough guy. His offensive game is gone, temporarily at least, after a third surgery on his left foot late last spring.

EAST LANSING — The tone in Russell Byrd's voice says so much, if not everything.

On a Michigan State team that's in the midst of a blessed season, knowing little else but winning, Byrd is struggling not to feel defeated.

Three surgeries on his left foot — the most recent last May — have whittled away at his physical strength and his zest for this winter.

"My legs are gone, I don't have any legs," said Byrd, tapping his thigh.

"It's just, about the only thing I can do to help this team is be a tough guy. Offensively ... off the move, I can't do it either. I drift. I don't have any strength in my legs."

The 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman sharpshooter couldn't workout this entire offseason after surgery on the same foot for the third time in less than a year.

Byrd's 2011-12 season isn't a total loss. He's averaging 1.4 points and six minutes per game, playing in 20 games for the nation's sixth-ranked team.

But it's not what he had in mind. Not when the limitations have nothing to do with talent, but, instead, a body that suddenly — after 18 healthy years — won't cooperate.

Russell Byrd

"The worst thing I ever did was jam a finger," Byrd said of his basketball career before East Lansing. "When I got up here I was 215 (pounds), 4 percent body fat. I was in incredible
shape. After the first surgery, all I did was workout, workout, workout.
But after the second and third surgeries, it takes it's toll and a
year-and-half off isn't a good thing.

The pain behind Byrd's wit these days is familiar to his father, Kelly, a longtime pastor in Fort Wayne, Ind.

"The sense that we get when we're with him and when we talk to him, I would say it's a real mix of deep disappointment and frustration and confusion," Kelly Byrd said.

"We've tried to encourage him to try to look at this opportunity at Michigan State as a big-picture deal. There are the next three years, there are the next 30 years.

"It's been a long one (journey) and I can't blame him for getting tired. I can't blame him for getting a little weary.

"I think he and Tom and D.J. (Dwayne Stephens) and Dane (Fife), I think
they're all kind of on the same page — he knows he just needs a good
spring and a good summer and a chance to get everything back kind of
dialed in physically. And I think he's just really, really looking
forward to that."

But Kelly isn't as sure his son can keep his head up until then.

"I think that's one of the things we start to worry about, maybe more so
lately," Kelly said. "He has persevered awfully well and
he's kept that wit. His personality has stayed in check. He's a
fun-loving kid and he's got a huge heart and he loves people and he
loves getting to play basketball. But I think we've seen that wane a
little bit in recent days."

Byrd said Izzo has been his confidant in his most trying moments — the low point being the unexpected news during a checkup that he'd need a third surgery.

And teammates such as senior Austin Thornton have kept him from becoming too selfishly disheartened.

"The thing (Thornton is) reminding me of is you've got to be happy for your team. And I truly am. I'm truly happy for Day-Day (Draymond Green) and Austin and what kind of year they're having right now.

"I'm enjoying the ride with these guys. We want to take Austin and Day-Day as far as we can."